152 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, vil 



This morning incapacity was of a piece with his 

 hatred of the breakfast-party of the period. To go 

 abroad from home or to do any work before break- 

 fasting ensured him a headache for the rest of the 

 day, so that he never was one of those risers with 

 the dawn who do half a day's work before the rest 

 of the world is astir. And though necessity often 

 compelled him to do with less, he always found 

 eight hours his proper allowance of sleep. 



But in the end of 1853 we hear of a reform in his 

 ways, after a bad bout of ill-health, when he rises 

 at eight, goes to bed at twelve, and eschews parties 

 of every kind as far as possible, with excellent 

 results as far as health went. 



After his marriage, however, and indeed to the 

 beginning of his last illness, he always rose early 

 enough for an eight o'clock breakfast, after which the 

 working day began, lasting regularly from a little 

 after nine till midnight. 



4 UPPEE YORK PLACE, ST. JOHN'S WOOD, 



Feb. 6, 1853. 



Many thanks, my dearest sister, for your kind and 

 thoughtful letter it went to my heart no little that 

 you, amidst all your trials and troubles, should find 

 time to think so wisely and so affectionately of mine. 

 Though greatly tempted otherwise, I have acted in the 

 spirit of your advice, and my reward, in the shape of 

 honours at any rate, has not failed me, as the Royal 

 Society gave me one of the Royal medals last year. It's 

 a bigger one than I got under your auspices so many 

 years ago, being worth .50, but I don't know that I 

 cared so much about it. 



